New head coaches must tackle some giant challenges

But as the programs at Michigan State, Minnesota and Indiana found during the last seven years, winning records in conference play proved even harder to come by.

During that span Michigan State and Minnesota had only one winning season apiece to show for their games against Big Ten competition: 2003, when they tied Iowa for fourth in the standings at 5-3. And Indiana hasn't been better than .500 in conference play since 1993, when its 5-3 record was good for a fourth-place tie with Michigan and Illinois.

That losing legacy is what the new coaches at these three schools -- Michigan State's Mark Dantonio, Minnesota's Tim Brewster and Indiana's Bill Lynch -- are up against.

Stability at Indiana

Lynch's situation is significantly different than the others'. He came to the Hoosiers in 2005 as an assistant coach and worked as interim head coach for two games last season after Terry Hoeppner was hospitalized with a brain tumor and served in that capacity during spring practice.

On June 17, two days before Hoeppner died of complications from the tumor, Lynch was promoted to head coach.

Hoeppner's assistants have been retained, giving the team continuity on both sides of the football. The offense that enabled Kellen Lewis to become one of the best freshman quarterbacks in the nation last season -- with 2,221 yards and 14 touchdowns passing plus 441 yards and five touchdowns rushing -- is intact.

"Kellen made great progress through the fall, and in the spring he got better," Lynch said.

Grounded at Michigan State

In stark contrast to the offensive stability at Indiana is the situation at Michigan State. Dantonio has installed an offense that is predicated on the running game and is completely different from the spread-formation passing attack predecessor John L. Smith employed in his four years as head coach.

Dantonio likes what he has seen from returning running backs Javon Ringer, Jehuu Caulcrick and A.J. Jimmerson, who combined to rush for 1,063 yards and nine touchdowns last season. "Javon and Jehuu complement each other," he said. "Javon is a big-play threat, while Jehuu is the prototypical power back."Many of the victories by Smith's teams were offensive duels in which they scored 40 or more points.

Revolution at Minnesota

Like Dantonio and Lynch, Brewster is trying to repair a defense that opponents ripped to shreds. In conference play, Michigan State, Minnesota and Indiana ranked ninth, 10th and 11th in scoring defense, and the Gophers were at the bottom in total defense, surrendering an average of 455.6 yards per game to Big Ten opponents.

On offense, Brewster is doing the opposite of what Dantonio is doing at Michigan State and what the ousted Glen Mason did in taking the Gophers to seven bowls in his 10 years as coach. Rigidity is out; flexibility is in.

An NFL assistant for the last five seasons and a collegiate assistant for the previous 14, Brewster has hired former Northwestern assistant Mike Dunbar to install "the spread coast offense," a combination of the traditional spread and the West Coast offense. The system uses multiple formations and relies on the QB to adjust to the defensive scheme and make decisions at the line of scrimmage.

Unfortunately for Brewster, the extent of his QBs' experience is the nine games, 34 passes and seven carries the Gophers got from junior Tony Mortensen over the last two seasons. The other two candidates are redshirt freshman Adam Weber and the coach's son, freshman Clint Brewster.